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Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Needed Change Hasn’t Happened Yet

By James J. Zogby

This commentary was published in The Jordan Times on 22/02/2011

When speaking about the Arab uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and beyond, the language used in the US is euphoric. Expressions like “nothing will ever be the same again” and “the existing order is being swept away” are common. But when the conversation comes home, the exuberant rhetoric is pushed aside and hard-nosed practicality becomes the order of the day.

“The president had no choice,” the pundits said, “he had to veto. Republicans would have pounced on him and the pro-Israel crowd would have made his life miserable.”

This is the accepted wisdom.

It is, of course, always easier to discuss what other countries and their leaders must do than it is to face up to the hard realities of what must be done in our own backyard.

At the same time, though, it is a bit brazen, and even bizarre, that we can be so blind to the stark contradiction between what we advocate for others and what we fail to do for ourselves. But this is what is taking place.

Right now in commentaries, the Bush crowd is crowing “we were right”, finding new justification in their past promotion of democracy - ignoring, of course, the utter hypocrisy of their overall approach to the region.

They gave lip-service to democracy, to be sure, but then they: led America into two deadly and failed wars (both of which they wrongly projected would usher in democratic change); turned a blind eye as Israel ravaged Palestinians and Lebanese; instituted the wide-spread use of profiling, prolonged detentions without due process, and prisoner abuse - all of which they pressured Arab allies to support.

The net result was a roiling of Arab public opinion and delegitimising of some Arab leaders, who had befriended America, making them more vulnerable and less receptive to proceed on the path of reform. Then, after strong electoral performances by hardline religious parties in several countries, the Bush administration, not liking the outcome, shelved its democracy rhetoric.

More disturbing than this irritatingly predictable neoconservative effort to rewrite history and hijack the Arab uprising is the fact that many liberals can find no more creative response to these Arab uprisings than to become latter-day neocons themselves.

All this posturing ignores several uncomfortable truths. America’s favourable ratings across the Arab world are back to Bush-era lows and the post-Cairo optimism that America would change its approach to the region has all but evaporated. America, it bears repeating, is not unpopular among many Arabs because it supported their leaders, rather it is some Arab leaders who have become unpopular because they have supported our policies. We were, in a real sense, not in the game, having long ago dealt ourselves out.

In their efforts to effect change in their countries, Tunisians and Egyptians weren’t looking to us. That was their movement, not ours.

There is a real danger that in this moment of crisis we will either learn the wrong lessons or learn no lessons at all.

What is required now is to recognise the degree to which our failed policies of the past have alienated Arab public opinion, undercut our stated values, and put at risk those who sought to be our friends.

At a critical moment in the midst of the Vietnam war, Martin Luther King delivered his “Declaration of Independence from the War in Vietnam”. In this speech, he said: “I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values.... A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of our past and present policies.”

This challenge is as true today as it was then.

Unless our political leaders can put aside “politics as usual” and end their callous disregard for the suffering of the Palestinians, unless they are willing to challenge their political fears and do what is right, instead of what is convenient, unless we can stand up against the Islamophobes who threaten to tear apart the fabric of our nation, unless we can restore our commitment to fundamental freedoms and constitutional protections, and unless we can stop ignoring Arab concerns and truly listen to what Arab voices are telling us about their needs and aspirations, we will continue to operate clumsily and, at times, brutally on the wrong side of history.

As Arabs seek change at home, the challenge we face is to question how we can bring real change to America and to the way America deals with the Arab world. This is what Barack Obama promised when he said that he would lead the effort to “change Washington” and, in the process, “change America and change the world”.

This is still the change we need. Unfortunately, it hasn’t happened yet.

About Me

I graduated from the French University in Beirut (St Joseph) specialising in Political and Economic Sciences. I started my working life in 1973 as a reporter and journalist for the pan-Arab magazine “Al-Hawadess” in Lebanon later becoming its Washington, D.C. correspondent. I subsequently moved to London in 1979 joining “Al-Majallah” magazine as its Deputy Managing Editor. In 1984 joined “Assayad” magazine in London initially as its Managing Editor and later as Editor-in-Chief. Following this, in 1990 I joined “Al-Wasat” magazine (part of the Dar-Al-Hayat Group) in London as a Managing Editor. In 2011 I became the Editor-In-Chief of Miraat el-Khaleej (Gulf Mirror). In July 2012 I became the Chairman of The Board of Asswak Al-Arab Publishing Ltd in UK and the Editor In Chief of its first Publication "Asswak Al-Arab" Magazine (Arab Markets Magazine) (www.asswak-alarab.com).

I have already authored five books. The first “The Tears of the Horizon” is a love story. The second “The Winter of Discontent in The Gulf” (1991) focuses on the first Gulf war sparked by Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. His third book is entitled “Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: From Balfour Promise to Bush Declaration: The Complications and the Road to a Lasting Peace” (March 2008). The fourth book is titled “How Iran Plans to Fight America and Dominate the Middle East” (October 2008) And the fifth and the most recent is titled "JIHAD'S NEW HEARTLANDS: Why The West Has Failed To Contain Islamic Fundamentalism" (May 2011).

Furthermore, I wrote the memoirs of national security advisor to US President Ronald Reagan, Mr Robert McFarlane, serializing them in “Al-Wasat” magazine over 14 episodes in 1992.

Over the years, I have interviewed and met several world leaders such as American President Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister Margaret Thacher, Late King Hassan II of Morocco, Late King Hussein of Jordan,Tunisian President Zein El-Abedine Bin Ali, Lybian Leader Moammar Al-Quadhafi,President Amine Gemayel of Lebanon,late Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, Late Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat, Haitian President Jean Claude Duvalier, Late United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan,Algerian President Shazli Bin Jdid, Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Siyagha and more...